


Bloom

by yalejosie



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Gardening!, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:47:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28608543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yalejosie/pseuds/yalejosie
Summary: When Brian first gets onto the Aurora, he barely recognizes his new body as his own. Nastya offers a solution.
Relationships: Drumbot Brian & Nastya Rasputina
Comments: 14
Kudos: 39





	Bloom

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally going to write this in a few weeks (after hmoh finished up) for a dear friend of mine, remy. remy, i wanna say that i care about you so much. thank you for being one of the kindest, smartest, and most compassionate people ive ever had the pleasure of meeting.
> 
> However, i wrote this now bc we all had a hard, hard day on the 6th, especially my fellow Americans. i wanted to make something to bring a little comfort. i sincerely hope this delivers

When Brian first got onto the Aurora, he could barely function with how  _ wrong _ he felt. His new body felt foreign, made of unyielding metal instead of forgiving flesh. He felt disconnected from it, his brain refusing to acknowledge that these new metal body parts were truly his. It was if his new body had become a perverse puppet, rather than  _ him _ . 

The reality of Brian’s new body was also stacked on top of his whole ordeal of floating in the void. He didn’t know how to process being here, in this moment, squinting from the brightness of the ship’s lights, and covering his ears from the loudness of the engine echoing in his skull. By all accounts Brian should’ve been dead, but here he was, walking around in a body he felt divorced from. 

Brian coped with his stress by sitting alone in deserted corners of the ship. If he hugged himself hard enough, then the awful pain that came from not feeling his arms in the right way subsided slightly. Besides, the last thing he needed at the moment was to happen upon the crew of this ship. He hadn’t talked to any of them extensively besides Carmilla, and wasn’t planning to. From the few things Brian had picked up, they sounded like a violent bunch, and something in him dictated that violence was  _ wrong _ . Brian mused that it might be something to do with his switch, and then shoved that thought down in a deep, dark hole. He was having enough trouble with his standard body parts, he didn’t need to think about the switch on his neck as well. 

Brian was sitting in a corner of the Aurora near the engine room. It was a darker part of the ship, the only light source a porthole. Through the porthole, one could see the stars flickering gently in the void. Brian made a point of turning his head away. He didn’t need to see the stars that haunted him whenever he closed his eyes. 

“Brian’s your name, right?”

Brian startled a bit at the question, and looked up to see one of his crewmates. She was long and slender, with perfectly straight, mousy hair that was dipped in blue dye at the tips. She wore a large, dark blue coat, that looked as if it was three sizes too big, but somehow she pulled it off with grace. She had hints of stubble on her face, and wire frame glasses that complimented sharp, grey colored eyes. 

Those eyes pierced Brian as he looked at her. He felt like he was being scanned for impurities, a look that could peer into his very being and discern exactly what he didn’t like about himself. Brian felt his voice choke up with nerves, buzzing with electricity all over his body. Yet knew he had to answer her. It was rude to not answer someone’s question, after all. 

“I’m Brian,” he replied in a small voice. “How did you find me? I didn’t think anyone would be in this part of the ship.”

“I am Nastya Rasputina, the ship engineer.” the woman replied, her voice assuming an edge of pride to it. “Because of my work, I spend much of my time in the engine room near here. I’m surprised I haven’t seen you before. How long have you been here?”

Brian tried to remember, but he couldn’t. He’d moved to this corner after hearing one of the crewmates, the loud one with the belts, shoot the wall and harshly laugh from his last spot. How long ago that was, though, Brian couldn’t parse out. Time seemed to flow more quickly in his new body, on this new ship, in this new life he’d been given. A part of him wished he could give it back.

“I don’t know.” Brian replies, instead of the million thoughts and feelings buzzing around his head like frantic sparks of electricity. It would be wrong to burden this stranger with his troubles, after all. 

“Ah, you must be having a hard time adjusting to the ship and your new mechanism, hm?” Nastya replied, as if she’d pinpointed Brian’s problems from one look at him. 

“Yes, I am.” Brian replied, completely honestly. “How did you know?”

“I was the same way when I first got mechanized. It is hard, getting used to having metal be part of your makeup. In my case, my blood was turned to quicksilver. However, in your case, it is much more severe.”

Brian nodded, and decided to ask her a question. 

“How did you get used to having a mechanism in you?”

“Mainly, it was figuring out my affinity for engineering, which forced me to work with my body, particularly my hands. Using your body helps connect it, if that makes sense.” Nastya replied.

It did make sense to Brian, quite a bit. But what could he do? Brian didn’t know of any job on the ship he could perform. The one profession he did remember, being a doctor, was useless on a ship full of people who couldn’t die or be permanently hurt. 

Brian voiced this concern out loud to Nastya, who then took a moment to pace the halls in thought. 

“Come with me, I have an idea.” Nastya commanded, offering a hand to Brian to help him up. Brian took her up on her offer of her outstretched hand, using it to pull himself up off the floor. As soon as he was upright, Nastya started walking away briskly, and Brian ran after her to keep up. He knew that whatever she had to show him had to be better than sitting in a hallway, alone.

Nastya brought him to the O’Neill ring that orbited the ship, creating artificial gravity for the inhabitants of the ship. To Brian’s surprise, the ring itself was apparently hollow. It seemed mostly empty, besides the entrances to living pods stationed in equidistant intervals. However, in one corner of the ring, a garden flourished. It looked especially vibrant against the cold metal interior. As Brian walked through it, he noticed plump, ripe tomatoes growing off the vine, with luscious green basil bushes growing off at the base of the vines. 

“We all tend to the garden together, so we can have fresh food between planets.” Nastya explained as she led Brian to the edge of the garden. “However, we have an open plot because Toy Soldier wanted to plant some flowers. It never got around to planting the seeds, though, so I suppose you can have them.”

Nastya handed Brian packets of seeds with vibrant pictures of large, yellow flowers with deep black seeds in the middle of its petals, and of deep red flowers with spiraling petals. The packages were labeled “Sunflowers” and “Roses”. She then pointed to a vacant plot in the corner of the garden. 

“Thank you, Nastya. Are you certain this is alright?” Brian asked hesitantly. The last thing he wanted to do was piss off any of the other crewmates. Brian was almost certain he couldn’t die now that he was metal, but he was sure it would still hurt. 

“Yes, I am sure it will be fine. And even if they do object, I will shoot them until they do not.” Nastya replied, the edge of her mouth quirking up in a grin. 

Brian didn’t want anyone to get hurt, and murmured a quick, “Please don’t shoot anyone.”

However, he was grateful for the fact that Nastya was being so kind to him. 

“Thank you Nastya, I really appreciate this.” Brian whispered gratefully. 

“No problem, Brian. Come out when you’re ready.” Nastya replied. 

With that, Nastya walked briskly away, the heels of her steel toed boots echoing against the floor of the O’Neill Ring. Brian stared at the packets of seeds in his hands, and got to work. 

There was a faucet installed at the edge of the garden with a watering can laying beside it. Brian picked up the watering can, filled it, and sprinkled water over the plot of parched earth. Then, Brian knelt down into the soil, and planted the flowers in neat rows. He dug small holes in the now gentle, damp soil, gingerly placed a seed in the middle of each hole, and tucked them into the earth the way a child would be tucked into bed. 

As he worked, Brian felt his arms become his. It felt as if the ghost that had kept his arms from feeling fully in his possession had finally settled into its new metal home. The same case went for the rest of his body as he used it. His legs, his lungs, all of it. All of it was starting to properly sync.

When Brian was done working, he simply sat and watched the flowers grow bit by bit everyday. After he was done watering every day, he would simply sit and watch. He watched as tiny green sprouts broke from the earth, and watched as they grew tender stalks. Brian watched, and watched, seeing them grow taller and taller, until he was interrupted one day by someone walking into the room. 

Brian looked up, his heart beating quickly with nerves. Thankfully, though, it was only Nastya, and he let out a sigh of relief. 

“I have a gift for you,” Nastya announced. 

“A gift? What?” Brian replied. 

Nastya pulled out a shiny new instrument that Brian recognized as a banjo. Nastya handed him the instrument and a variety of picks. 

“Most of the crewmates know how to play an instrument, myself included. I figured it would be good to try and find something for you to play as well.” She said. 

“Thank you, Nastya. I really appreciate this, all of this. How can I repay you?” Brian asked. 

“No repayment is required, Brian. We are crewmates now. This is just what we do. I hope to see you around the ship in the future.” Nastya replied, a small smile on her face.

After that, Brian learned to play the banjo as he watched the flowers grow even more. As he figured out different chords and mastered them, the flowers grew taller and wider, with the roses growing thick with thorns while the sunflowers grew ever taller. They both gained vivid green bulbs at the same time. 

As the flowers bloomed, Brian could feel himself bloom as well, letting himself open up to all the possibilities of his future. As the sunflowers opened their vibrant petals, he felt his eyes finally adjust to the ship, and sounds lower down to reasonable levels inside his skull. When the roses bloomed, deep red twisting petals bared to the world, Brian made a plan to go meet the rest of the crewmates. They seemed violent, but one of them, Nastya, had been kind to him. Maybe the rest would be kind as well, despite their violent antics. 

As Brian walked out of the O’Neill Ring, he brought two things. The first was his banjo, picks and instrument clutched tightly in his hand. The second was a radiant red rose. He picked it and fastened it to his black top hat for good luck.

Feeling at home in his body at last, Brian left the O’Neill Ring to go meet his future. Perhaps this future would be a good one. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!! Please please take care of yourselves if you need to, times are hard and we all need to make sure we are doing alright. Talking to people who care about you, getting enough sleep, and doing things you love always help me with anxiety, at least. As always, comments fuel, me stay happy, and please, especially now, stay safe and healthy!!!


End file.
